


reindeer games

by celaenos



Category: Batgirl (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily Feels, F/F, Femslash Yuletide, Gen, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-28 00:05:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2711684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celaenos/pseuds/celaenos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steph gets herself stuck in a chimney trying to trick Damian into believing in Santa Claus. Cass has to come and pull her out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	reindeer games

Cassandra climbs up to the roof, tilts her head, and frowns. Stephanie's feet are the only part of her body in sight. Covered in bright green slippers, clenched over the top of the chimney. They are the only thing holding her from falling down into the fireplace. Cassandra has no idea why Stephanie would be up on the roof, inside of a chimney, but she often doesn't understand the any of things Stephanie does.

She walks over and holds onto Stephanie's ankles tightly, making sure that she doesn't fall in. “What are you doing?” she asks softly. The winter breeze cuts into her thin yoga pants. She hadn't dressed when she heard Stephanie calling for help, only ran straight up to the roof.

“Cass!” comes Stephanie's relieved, muffled cry. “Oh thank god. Pull me up!” she begs. “I'm stuck!”

Cassandra frowns, still confused as to _why_ Stephanie is hanging upside-down in the chimney, but hauls her upwards. It's a little difficult since she is mostly dead weight, unable to help push herself up much. But Cassandra manages it in a matter of minutes. Stephanie's face is flushed pink. She shakes her head, like a dog after it's gotten wet, and her thick blonde curls fly everywhere, whipping Cassandra lightly in the face. She laughs, and shakes her head again; purposefully shaking her hair in Cassandra's face once more before brushing it back.

“Why... were you in the chimney?” Cassandra asks.

Stephanie grins at her. It's her grin when she's excited about something. Her whole body tenses up, like it's a rubber band; taunt, ready to explode. “I'm gonna make Damian believe in Santa,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows conspiratorially. She says this like Cassandra should know what she is talking about. When Cassandra doesn't react, her face drops to a frown. “How awesome would that be?” she asks. “I mean, the kid's only ten.”

“Santa Claus is the fat man who wears red, yes?” Cassandra asks. She knows that she has heard of him, but she can't quite remember his importance.

Stephanie's eyes go wide and she grabs a hold of Cassandra's arm. She is starting to shiver rather violently. Stephanie has on a coat and a hat; Cassandra only has on a long-sleeved cotton shirt. Stephanie wraps her arms around Cassandra, pulling her into a hug and rubbing at the sides of her arms to keep her warm.

“Yes,” she explains. Steph always explains things to Cassandra without making her feel stupid for not knowing them already. Better than anyone. Sometimes even better than Barbara. “He's the one who gives presents on Christmas. He rides on a sleigh pulled by reindeer and comes down the chimney to leave presents under the tree.”

Cassandra doesn't think this sounds entirely plausible, but she nods anyway. Stephanie's arms around her are warm, and she leans her head down against Cassandra's shoulder. She smiles and looks up at the light dusting of snow that is beginning to fall.

“Doesn't he only come on Christmas eve?” she asks. “At nighttime?” Stephanie's head lifts up, a frown etching onto her face. “It's not Christmas eve,” Cass points out.

“You... make a good point,” Stephanie says reluctantly. “I got excited though. The little gremlin needs to have a little bit of actual, kid-like fun.” Her face splits into a grin, moving mere inches away from Cassandra's. “Plus, it seemed really fun,” she adds.

Cassandra smiles at her, steadfastly ignoring the cold that is seeping into her bones. Stephanie notices anyway. Or, she just realizes that she is cold herself—and jumps up, pulling Cassandra along with her. Steph tugs Cassandra close, pulling her halfway into her torso so they are practically sharing her jacket. Their faces are so close that their foreheads are nearly touching. Cassandra doesn't often (or ever) allow anyone to get into her space like this. Only Stephanie seems eager to be this close to her. Cassandra never quite knows what to make of it, but she finds that she dislikes it less and less each time that it happens.

Stephanie's eyes rest on Cassandra's lips for half a second, then she looks up quickly, watching the snow fall. Cassandra very slowly reciprocates the hug and puts her arms around Stephanie. She hates hugs. She never understands exactly how long they are supposed to go on for, or whether or not she should put her arms around Stephanie's neck, or her waist, or how tightly she is supposed to hold her.

So she stands there, cold and uncomfortable, arms lightly rested around Steph's waist, and waits for her to signal that they are finished.

Stephanie sort of bounces up and down on her toes, then sticks her tongue out to try and catch a snowflake. She never seems to mind, that Cassandra doesn't know how it works. So she waits, looking out at the chimney in front of her. Finally, Steph pulls back a bit and grins—a little sheepishly.

“What were you going to put in the chimney?” Cassandra asks.

“Presents!” Stephanie releases her and runs back over to the chimney. There is a cloth backpack on the floor that Cassandra hadn't noticed earlier. Steph hauls it up and holds it in front of herself triumphantly. “I found a friggin' build your own robot!”

“You think Damian will play with that?” Cassandra asks doubtfully.

Stephanie's excitement wanes a bit. “Well, maybe.”

Cassandra waits.

“Probably not,” Steph admits sadly. Then her eyes light up. “But Dick will! And Tim too probably. And then Damian will feel left out and jealous, and _then_ he'll want too.”

“What will I do?” Dick asks, climbing up behind Cassandra. She turns, giving him a small smile. She heard him climbing up the whole way, no matter how hard he tries to be stealthy. He grins at her, shivers, then looks to Stephanie. “Why are we on the roof?”

“ _I_ was trying to convince Damian that Santa is real,” Stephanie tells him pointedly. “Cass... was helping,” she adds.

Cassandra turns to Dick. “She got stuck in the chimney,” she explains. When she turns back to Stephanie, she looks horrified. “Was I not supposed to tell him that?”

Stephanie smacks her palm against her forehead.

“How were you gonna—you know what, I don't want to know.” Dick says, rubbing his fingers together for warmth. “Alfred is making dinner. Damian is downstairs, so... whatever you were gonna do—do it now.”

“Well it won't work _now_ ,” Stephanie groans.

“What about the reindeer?” Cassandra asks.

Dick scrunches his eyebrows together in confusion. “Huh?” he asks. But Stephanie's face lights up, and she drops the bag in her hand. Running over to Cassandra, she wraps her up into a quick hug, then kisses her on the cheek. Very close to the corner of her mouth.

“Brilliant!” she yells, and kisses her again. “You are _brilliant_ Cass!” she turns to Dick. “Start making reindeer noises.”

“I... _no_ , first off. And, what the hell is a reindeer noise?”

“No clue, just stomp around,” she orders with a shrug. “You too,” she says to Cassandra. Stephanie grabs her hand, locking their icy fingers together and starts clomping around on the roof. Cassandra shrugs at Dick and joins in with her, Stephanie beaming at her all the while. Dick stands there for a moment, watching them with something like horror mixed with amusement on his face. Cassandra figures that they must look rather odd, but Stephanie is grinning at her, and her thumb keeps rubbing in circles against Cassandra's, and she would be lying if she said it wasn't a little bit fun.

Finally, Dick lets out a resigned sigh, and starts jumping around. He begins releasing loud, bleating noises that cause Stephanie to cover her mouth in order to hide her laughter. Cass grins and stomps around harder. Within seconds they hear Damian howl from inside. “Pennyworth! What is making that vile noise?”

Stephanie giggles, knocking herself into Cassandra. Her forehead rests on Cass's shoulder and she is shaking with laughter. Dick starts bleating louder and Stephanie grabs Cassandra, using her body to hold herself up, she is laughing so hard. A smile slips onto Cass's face, and she thinks maybe there might be something to this holiday after all.


End file.
